Simulation Analysis of Synchronous Walking Control for Centaur System

Carrying heavy loads while walking is a physically demanding activity that often results in fatigue and even injury. Therefore, to alleviate this extra burden, wearable exoskeleton robots have been widely researched. Conventional exoskeleton robots typically employ a fixed gait frequency during walking, which can restrict the wearer’s mobility and lead to challenges such as the inability to coordinate obstacle-crossing movements. This paper proposes a centaur robot system based on a synchronized walking control scheme. Based on the combination of human lower limbs with the torso of a quadrupedal animal, we design a system with a pair of animal hind legs and a wearable torso. Furthermore, the system exhibits remarkable flexibility and adaptability. In this paper, we validate the feasibility of the synchronous walking control scheme for the centaur robot through WEBOTS, and demonstrate its outstanding performance in human-robot collaboration. In the simulation environment, the control deviation of the posture angles is within 0.1 rad, and the synchronization deviation rate of the walking is maintained within 0.05 s, achieving favorable control effectiveness. The control scheme enables the centaur system to achieve stride frequency synchronization with the wearer during locomotion, while ensuring the maintenance of stable load-carrying capacity.